Chapter 1384: The Demon of Willing Submission

At some point, Chen Changsheng's world had begun to shrink.

In the past, he held a vast world in his heart—a world so boundless it could never be fully captured by Geographical Maps.

But now, his world had been reduced to nothing more than this Peach Orchard.

Such tranquility allowed Chen Changsheng to once again become a living, breathing person.

It was Aqing's arrival that gradually restored the senses of a living person to the bewildered man in the green robe.

Year after year, there were peaches; year after year, there was wine; and year after year, she was there.

Aqing was healing his heart.

In turn, Chen Changsheng's presence was healing Aqing's lonely, silent heart.

They were friends bound by a silent understanding, yet they seemed more like two people with nowhere else to lean, making do with each other.

Watching over a single Peach Grove felt like holding the entire world.

...

The peaches grew sweeter with each passing year.

This was entirely due to Aqing's meticulous care.

The peaches sold better and better. Merchants from all over the world would come to Aqing to buy them.

"Isn't there still half a Peach Orchard left? Why aren't you selling?"

"Miss Aqing, can't you sell just a few more?"

"Yes, yes! We traveled a very long way to get here."

But Aqing refused them all, one by one.

She offered only two words: "Not selling."

Only when Chen Changsheng arrived would the peaches from that remaining half of the Peach Orchard be picked.

Beneath Green Mountain, within the Peach Orchard, the smoke of cooking fires rose.

Along with the rising smoke, the waterwheel creaked as it drew from the stream flowing down the mountain. The Peach Grove rustled in the evening breeze. The two sat among the trees, drinking wine and idly chatting about the past and the future.

Aqing asked, "Changsheng, what will you do if I leave one day?"

Chen Changsheng froze for a moment.

Aqing continued, "Even cultivators reach the end of their lifespans. They say a century passes in the snap of a finger, but how many cultivators in this world can actually live past a thousand years?"

"Will you be happy after I'm gone?"

Chen Changsheng's hand paused. "Why bring this up all of a sudden?" he asked.

Aqing let out a sigh. "I just wanted to ask."

Chen Changsheng didn't know how to answer. Instead, he said, "If such a day truly comes..."

"...then This Chen will try to force a sliver of life from the natural order of heaven and earth."

Aqing smiled at his words. "Don't say such silly things."

Chen Changsheng shook his head. "It isn't silly."

"It is best if it doesn't come to that."

Aqing looked at him and said, "Even if I go, you have to live well. In this entire world, you are the only person I have left to care about."

Chen Changsheng paused, then reached out and smoothed her Strand of Hair.

Aqing let out a breath and looked toward the evening glow on the horizon.

"Changsheng, the evening glow is so beautiful..."

"Yes."

Both of their gazes rested on the horizon.

It wasn't until a moment later that Aqing turned her head to look at the man in the green robe beside her.

His profile was exactly as it had been back then, completely unchanged.

A smile appeared on her face.

She felt grateful that she had managed to catch up, even just a little, to these fleeting years.

But she was a foolish girl.

A foolish girl, just like Zhu Qi.

...

Within the Sand Sea down in the Underworld.

Wang He encountered an uninvited guest.

The man stood right in front of him, yet the distance between them felt as vast as a great chasm.

Demonic qi billowed around him; he was a true demon.

"Are your injuries better?" the Demon Sovereign asked.

Wang He stared blankly at the man. "You aren't dead..."

The Demon Sovereign replied, "I have been here all along."

Wang He couldn't understand. He stood up, confusion filling his eyes, and asked, "Then why did you never show yourself? Even when the Demon Gate was on the verge of destruction, you never appeared."

The Demon Sovereign said, "I ceased to belong to this era a long time ago. But it's not as though I did nothing. Have you forgotten about that Demon Pill?"

Wang He froze, finally realizing what he meant.

The Demon Sovereign sat down and handed Wang He a jug of wine.

Wang He recovered his wits slightly, took the jug, and tilted his head back to drink.

"Why did you seek me out?"

"The Ghost Sword Immortal told me that you are very much like me, that you carry my shadow," the Demon Sovereign said. "There are truly very few people in this world who can earn his acknowledgement like that."

Wang He let out a breath and said, "There's no need to beat around the bush."

The Demon Sovereign asked, "If I said that you are my final game piece, would you believe me?"

Wang He nodded. "I believe it."

The Demon Sovereign nodded. "One day, you will be able to upend this world order, just as I once did. This time, there will be no one by your side to get in the way. You won't be swayed by emotions and desires as I was. You are the most suitable person. But as you are now, you still lack the qualifications to pit yourself against the common life of this world."

"I used to have them."

"You didn't have them back then, either."

The Demon Sovereign looked at him and said, "What does a petty little Demon Gate amount to?"

Wang He frowned. "Then what does amount to anything?"

The Demon Sovereign looked at him and said, "The Demon Gate of the past covered more than half the world in surging demonic qi. Of the forty-six immortal path sects and twenty-seven lesser worlds within the Cultivation World, all belonged to the Demon Gate. With a mere raise of my hand, I could reduce this so-called Righteous Path to ash."

"That was the Demon Gate."

The Demon Sovereign said, "It is using the strength of one man to scale the peak. On a path meant for only one, he draws countless followers. He never relies on deceptive words to entice people, unlike the buddhist dao, which uses dogma to win over the hearts of the world."

"They should come willingly, of their own accord."

The Demon Sovereign continued, "Take the Ghost Sword Immortal, for instance. When I first met him, he was nothing more than a nameless nobody. Over these long years, I was the only person he ever acknowledged. Now, there is you as well."

"But even now, you still don't understand what a demon is, or what a Dao is."

Wang He's brow furrowed tightly. "Is there a difference?"

The Demon Sovereign smiled. "One day, when you can make the people of this world willingly follow you, you will understand."

The Demon Sovereign spoke a bunch of seemingly nonsensical words, and to Wang He, they truly were nonsensical.

He came in a hurry, and he left in a hurry.

Wang He did not stop him. It was only after he left that Wang He pondered everything the Demon Sovereign had said.

What was a demon?

Was it the self?

Was it self-supremacy?

Wang He fell into deep thought.

He had suffered a long and turbulent journey, walking from the Mortal World into this Immortal Realm, and eventually carving out a Demon Domain. Only then had he found a firm foothold in this vast world. But later, a gust of wind blew past, and he fell once again.

Everything had to start anew.

He looked at the sky full of yellow sand and the endless Sand Sea; it was just like the path before him—lacking direction, lacking a destination.

He thought that perhaps he really had been wrong.

The beginning of the Demon Gate was not rooted in demonic path cultivation techniques, nor was it born of doctrine, and it certainly didn't rely on winning people's hearts the way the Buddhist and Daoist teachings did.

It was the pure demonic path.

A demon to whom all the people of the world would willingly submit.